#hanabisays o1

[unxdeadly]

@hanabisays

she's been staring for perhaps a bit too long, contemplating over whether to approach or not. the very atmosphere around the stranger seemed to weep, the metallic hue of her soul heavy, like she was weighted down with tar. oppressive was the first word to mind.

it would go so nicely with her own blue. for what better thing to go along with the feeling of death than the sweet sorrow of guilt?

cobalt footsteps approach, a chilling smile upon Giselle's lips.

"That sure is something. How is it you're even still upright? The weight on your shoulders seems deadly."

[eusarca]

It wasn't easy, but Kyrie managed to shake their pursuer after a tense ten minutes. Now successfully hidden behind a set of crates in an Eriol alleyway, the alraune surreptitiously peered out from the side to confirm it. The misty being that looked so much like their former self was facing away, completely off their track.

Unfortunately, they also realized it was too early to celebrate. Someone else entered their field of vision, and Mistrie turned its head to look at her as well. The moment it took a step in the stranger's direction, Kyrie scrambled up and sprinted in its direction.

"Look out!" Kyrie called out to the stranger as they ran, then made a valiant effort to tackle Mistrie. It went intangible and invisible right on time, and Kyrie dropped painfully to the stone ground instead.

"...Fuck..."

★ @hanabisays

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄  “  excuse  me  .  i  need  this  in  a  different  size  .  something  a  little  larger  .  ”  shionne  pointed  to  an a-line dress  hanging  on  the  display  . 

if  she  was  going  to  be  here  for  a  while  ,  she  might  as  well  get  comfortable  in  something  other  than  rags  .  they've  taken  her  this  far  ,  but  they  were  certainly  beginning  to  meet  the  end  of  their  wear  .  while  finding  something  of  her  tastes  that  also  fell  within  her  limited  budget  was  going  to  be  tough  ,  she  was  content  with  the  hunt  .

it  was  important  .

“  if  you  don't  have  that  ,  can  you  show  me  what  else  you  have  in  a  similar  color  set  ??  "

@hanabisays | s.c.

[eusarca]

"I didn't do anything! I was just taking a walk!" Really far from home, sure, but that didn't mean horrible murderous doppelgangers needed to spawn to punish them for it.

After the stranger yanked them out of the way, Kyrie steadied their feet and held out their free hand, palm facing Mistrie. A spark of power ran through their body and out toward the Mist Reaper righting itself from missing another attack. The Paralysis spell struck, it froze with a jolt, and Kyrie began to pull the new girl... somewhere away! Very fast!

"My plan was running, and it worked eventually! I guess I'll go back to that?!"

Someone more genuinely invested in self-preservation at any cost probably would've left this other living target there, or never leapt out to save her in the first place. Kyrie was just not so lacking in investment that they'd lie down and die (again).

"Why, do you know how to kill a ghost?"

"Hhhgh!" Hanabi gasps in horror when the dagger hits the ground where the spirit was. WHAT IS GOING ON. No, she knows what's going on, but this wasn't what she thought. "W-WHAT did you do?" It's a panicked question. A rhetorical one.

"Your counterpart," If she can even call it that, "Isn't fighting fair is it?" Hanabi reaches to grab hold of the Alraune's hand and pull them away from another possible incoming attack.

"Do you have any plan?"

[unxdeadly]

cruel? laughable, really. Giselle has the capacity to be insanely awful, to ruin and even end lives, so to be called cruel for merely talking...? if she wasn't so focused on one thing at the moment, she might have spared a chuckle. then again, if she was operating at full strength with full use of her abilities, she really doubts this girl would even still be alive.

the crying was annoying.

"I'm just being honest. Your pathetic sniveling tells me that I've hit the nail on the head, soooo~" she shrugs, entirely too nonchalant. "You could put your energy into making yourself disappear instead of calling me mean for stating the truth. Think about how good it will feel to not be a burden anymore!"

"I--," why was she being so cruel? Was it the color of her or was she simply just cruel? Her eyes sting from the tears threatening to spill. "Why are you doing this?" She asks, voice nearly breaking. She sniffles and perhaps she shouldn't have because the tears are now rolling down her cheeks as the woman circles her and taunts.

It's true, isn't it? Even if it were buried deep within...

Hanabi tried to be strong and tried to always have a smile on her face, but she couldn't help but feel the way she did. If she didn't exist, her parents would still be together and her father would have still been alive.

"You're being too cruel." Hanabi looks at her, the tears now heavier as they fall. "You--shouldn't BE so awful."

[unxdeadly]

Giselle watches as the tears form in her eyes and if she had access to the full range of her emotion, she would most certainly be feeling that warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach at the sight. so easy. what a brilliant target for her cruelty, found almost completely on accident!

"Just tired? Oh, please. As if it's ever just that." although she feels less energetic than normal--a side-effect of the color bullshit, she's sure--she still manages to put some pep in her step as she circles the other girl. "You look awful and the vibes you're putting off are horrendous. Really, you'd be doing everyone a favor if you holed up somewhere or just disappeared entirely. You feel the pull of it, no?"

Hanabi bites down on her cheeks. The stranger's words aren't something Hanabi would have been affected. Maybe a little, but not to the point she'd cry. She feels the tears THREATENING to spill, but she holds them back. Does her best at least. It's harder to hold back than when she was in Wolfwood's nightmare.

"I'm sorry---It's just," Just what? She didn't WANT to answer her. Didn't think it was any of HER business, but damn, she felt so bad for even thinking it.

"I'm just tired." She knows it's B.S. If she was bullshitting herself, then surely someone else could see it a miles away. The guilt that weighted down on her and the regret. The immense sadness that made her feel like she was drowning. Maybe...it would be best if she stopped existing all together.

[unxdeadly]

"Me? I asked you first, didn't I?"

if she had the ability to still act like her old self, Giselle may have appeared comically shocked. the question is hollow, though, merely parroted back at the girl. did she appear just as heavy-footed? dismal and down in the dumps? perhaps it was her lack of expression, but Gigi thought she seemed just fine.

after all, she was thriving.

"Don't piss me off. I'm doing just fine. Better than you, at least. If my true colors were as depressing as yours, I'd have offed myself already."

Hanabi feels her before she even sees her. The familiar feel of rot and decay. Of death. For someone who's lived through it, she was very familiar with the presence it gave. Her heart rate picks up with every step this woman takes. Closer and closer...like the ghosts that haunted her. Yet, despite the OVERbearing and DENSITY of thus person's hue, Hanabi remains still.

Guilt, regret and maybe even shame...she was used to it. So, this weight that the stranger carried, well, what more was it to add another familiarity?

"What about you?" She looks at her and what Hanabi sees is...someone who LOOKS to be thriving. Was she thriving in her own?

[eusarca]

Kyrie looked back over their shoulder when the stranger cast her spell, and couldn't help but doubt. If Mistrie could do anything they could do (before becoming a plant), then it still had plenty of time to go incorporeal. Evading attacks was a breeze like that.

"Probably not, but... maybe that's a good distraction! Hurry and get down!" Pulling away from her, Kyrie dove down under the tall grasses of the field and resumed lying as flat as possible.

From here, their view of the world above was limited, but they would be able to see the Mist Reaper's feet on the ground if it got too close.

"Gh!" Hanabi is pulled, but doesn't stagger for too long. She's quick on her feet and following behind Kyrie no problem. As an undead, she didn't really have the resources to rid spirits. Especially when she didn't have certain abilities.

"I-I don't, but there's gotta be something we CAN do." This doppelganger, Hanabi can only imagine that it'd be only a matter of time before it found them again. There was no running. Not really.

"This way." And so Hanabi takes the lead once more, pulling Kyrie through an opened field.

With a wave of her own hand, she conjures up some flames toward Mistrie.

"Did we get it?"

[eusarca]

"Ghhhh... no. I'm not." There were tears in Kyrie's eyes when they lifted their head from the stone. Having a living body was so much pain.

"You sure it won't?" they asked as they mustered the energy to push themself up from their formerly flat position. Glancing around to confirm the stranger's observation, they spotted MIstrie returning to physical view about ten feet away. With its gaze locked on the alraune, it wordlessly flicked its dagger up and began to stride toward them again.

Already starting to scuttle to the side like a crab, Kyrie whined, "Yeeeah, I thought so," and gracelessly leapt to their feet just in time to avoid a stab of that dagger aimed at the ground.

"It's been at this for a while; why would it stop now?!"

Something like this isn't anything new. Or maybe in a sense, just a little bit, it is. However, when Hanabi thinks about it, she can't help but think of this as another spirit. That's exactly what this is, right? It's a little ironic, isn't it? An undead meets some sort of spirits of some kind.

Hanabi opens her mouth to speak, but instead she's met with someone dashing toward them and warning LOOK OUT!

"Oh--!" And just like a normal human tackling a spirit, this person just goes straight through the Mist Reaper.

....

Hanabi does NOT move. She assess their surroundings first. Is the Reaper going to make a move or not? Slowly, cautiously, Hanabi dopes make her way over to the other person. Ah...this one's a spirit.

"Are you okay? It---it doesn't look like it's going to attack?"

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄  maybe  there  is  something  to  it  :  the  way  the  girl  somehow  makes  herself  too  small  to  be  seen  .  like  disappearing  before  your  very  eyes  .  it  .  .  .  almost  makes  shionne  feel  as  if  she'd  made  the  wrong  social  move  .  it  picks  at  her  nerves  a  little  ,  although  so  quietly  that  it  remain  naked  to  the  eye  :  try  as  she  may  to  brute  force  her  way  through  every  interaction  .  .  .  she'd  probably  scared  the  girl  .

for  some  reason  .

“  the  phone  is  my  wallet  .  ”  she  echos  ,  pulling  it  out  of  her  bag  and  examining  it  .  defeatedly  ,  she  exhales  :  “  people  overcomplicate  the  shopping  experience  here  :  if  you  have  the  tech  ,  then  why  bother  staffing  the  place  with  a  human  at  all  ??  it's  pretty  archaic  if  you  ask  me  .  ”

woe  is  her  ,  who  had  to  interact  with  yet  another  person  to  get  what  she  wanted  .  shionne  snatched  her  hanger  close  to  her  chest  and  pivoted  to  worm  her  way  out  of  the  isle  ,  but  something  paused  in  her  .  like  she  was  missing  something  that  had  fluttered  away  without  her  notice  ,  leaving  her  behind  two  hours  ago  and  only  now  coming  to  mind  :

“  thank  you  for  your  help  .  ”

and  with that , shionne  marches  off  to  deal  with  the  actual  clerk  .

The lady says it's fine, but why does she feel like it wasn't. It really wasn't. She did deceive the other, but not maliciously! Hanabi clears her throat, and the other's follow-up question, "R-right! Uhm. You see those people over there? You check out with them." Her question is an odd one though. Has she never gone shopping before?

"Your phone is also your wallet. You should have what you need in one of the apps."

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄ it  is  almost  wild  to  watch  this  girl  pick  up  and  fumble  every  line  of  thought  she  tried  to  get  across  .  all  while  shionne  maintained  a  look  of  scrutiny  ,  taking  what  the  girl  has  to  say  with  a  fine grain  of  salt  (  salty  indeed   ) but ultimately . . . conceding .

“  look  ,  i'm  just  saying  :  i  thought  it  was  your  job  to  help  .  you  don't  owe  me  anything  ,  that's  why  it  came  across  as  weird  .  but . . . i  got  what  i  wanted  ,  so  i  suppose i can't  complain  ,  “  it  was a  bizarre  way  to  asage  the  situation  ,  but  how  else  was  shionne  supposed  to  repay  repentance  ??  ”  it's  fine  .  "

so  then  .  .  .

“  .  .  .  how  do  i  check  out  ??  ”

"Huh?" She did try but backed out, didn't she? She ended up just going through with it. In a way, she supposed she did kind of put this poor lady through it, but...

"That's NOT what I was trying to do," She stands on defense. "I did try to say something, but---," regardless, that was on her. At any point after, she could have just told the lady. "I genuinely wanted to help," She ends up saying once she collects her own mind. She doesn't like being called a liar OR being misunderstood, but things like this happen right?

"Well," Hanabi shuffles on her own feet, her hand awkwardly finding the right place to be held. "I learned that--, well...Never mind. The bottom line is I wasn't trying to lie or anything. You looked like you needed help and you asked me and I helped. That's it."

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄   the woman  doesn't  work  here  .  that  is  certainly  a  confession  .  and  with  it  ,  shionne  retreats  ,  trying  to  make  sense  of  the  deception  .  on  the  surface  ,  it  is  a  harmless  lie  .  .  .  but  the  intentions  behind  it  remain  foggy  .  when  people  deceive  another  ,  isn't  it  to  gain  some  sort  of  advantage  over  them  ??  using  false truths  as  some  sort  of  power  play  was  pretty  low  .

the  phone  goes  away  .

“  so . . . why  didn't  you  just  tell  me  i  was  wrong  from the start instead  of  leading  me  on  --  were  you  trying  to  make  a  joke  of  me  ??  i'm  more  than  capable  of  making  mistakes  ,  and  i'm  strong  enough  to  take  it  when  i'm  wrong  .  ” 

it  just  felt  .  .  .  weird  .  it  was  a  weird  thing  to  lie  about  . small . unimportant . so then . . .

“  what  did  you  end up getting  out  of  this  lie  ??  "

"Right! Yea--" And she's pulling out her phone and asking for how much it is. SHE---okay, honestly Hanabi is the one at fault here. Instead of telling the lady, she went out of her own way to help. "I am so sorry---I, uh, was trying to find the right time to tell you but then y'know, got in the thick of it!" Looking for clothes had been fun doing for another person after all.

"I ACTUALLY DON'T WORK HERE." and the truth is out. Hanabi bows her head down, "I'm a shopper just like you. I was looking for some new pants because--," why is she trying to explain her reason for shopping? "A-Anyway! I'm sorry I deceived you!!"

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄  shionne  attempted  to  remain  unfazed  by  the  way  the  store  clerk  trips  ,  possessing  no  instinct  to  help  or  step  into  the  situation  in  any  way  .  what  it  does  do  ,  however  ,  is  grant  an  opportunity  for  her  to  swipe  the  dress  for  herself  ,  snatching  it  from  the  rack  and  holding  it  close  to  her  chest  protectively  .

“  i  didn't  .  um  .  .  .  ”  perhaps  another  time  .  after  she's  recovered  from  this  shopping  trip  .  while  expense  doesn't  matter  regarding  well  constructed  fashion  .  .  .  being  able  to  afford  dinner  for  the  next  while  did  .  “  i'll  consider  it  .  for  now  ,  this  is  all  i  need  .  ”

out  comes  shionne's  phone  ,  at  home  and  comfortable  in  her  hand  ,  :  “  i'll  pay  now  .  how  much  ??  ”

"o-oh, uhm....sure." Hanabi fumbles a bit, eyes briefly looking at the lady before she puts the item back where she found it. What a strange lady. Though, Hanabi knew she wasn't one to judge. She was weird herself. Like, for how she nearly just tripped over her own foot and her nearly falling had her make such an awkward noise.

A-ANYWAY!!!!

Clearing her throat, she laughs nervously, "You, uh, you know they also got matching skirts to go with the outfit?"

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄     hmmn  .  better  .  entirely  so  ,  and  although  it  is  difficult  to  judge  as  much  ,  the  way  shionne's  finger  ceases  its  drumming  would  be  a  good  a  sign  as  any  .  it  is  still  a  bit  .  .  .  off  with  regards  to  its  design  ,  but  otherwise  inoffensive  .  it  didn't  matter  the  cost  ,  it  was  a  worthy  enough  purchase  to justify  whatever  dent  it'd  put  in  her  account  . 

“  it  will  do  .  ”  and  with  it  came  the  dilemma  ,  a  pause  ,  a  hesitation  .  “  put  it  back  ,  i'll  grab  it  myself  .  ”

"O-Oh!" Wow, she's really tough, isn't she? Hanabi feels her hands trembling a bit, but she laughs it off and looks around, "I'm sure they have something like that. You're right, you can't go wrong with neutral, and white, cream, or black are perfect colors for that!" She turns her attention to the lady with a friendly smile.

She'll find her something like the outfit in those colors! EVEN IF SHE DOES NOT WORK HERE.

"OH! I found it!" And Hanabi reaches to grab the black outfit of the same choice, "This one, right?"

[iimeris]

❀*ೃ༄   she's  quick  to  notice  the  lack  of  confidence  with  which  the  girl  attends  to  her  request  .  were  all  stores  operated  by  humans  so  .  .  .  wanting  in  service  ??  if  so  ,  it  made  for another  argument  as for  why  the  stores  back  home  didn't  have  employees  on  staff  .  if  they  had  ,  then  this  girl  would  have  been  eaten  alive  .

“  the  size  appears  to  be  better  ,  but  .  .  .  “  shionne  reaches  to  remove  the  dress  from  the  rack  display  ,  holding  it  up  to  her  body  for  demonstration  ,  ”  i  wouldn't  be  caught  dead  in  anything  with  a  cool  undertone  .  it washes me out completely . lavender  is  off  the  table  .  nothing even close to a  blue  or green  --  "

with  a  sharp  exhale  through  nose  ,  shionne  concedes  ,  hanging  the  dress  back  up  : “  never mind , do you have black or creme ?? hard to go wrong with a neutral . "

Is it the way she's dressed? Did she dress like she worked here or maybe it was because she knew where everything was? Either way, she's taken aback when the lady approaches her and asks for help. "I, uh, I---," She sputters, awkwardly fumbling over her words. "Uhm, I think---, let me see." She doesn't work here and yet, she's helping this poor girl locate a size bigger and in a different color set.

"How about this one?" She....she doesn't work here.

"It's a lighter pink, but crossed with a lavender hue. And it's in a larger size than the one you have?"